Knight in Shining Armor
by pocketcucco
Summary: Who knew being princess could be so tiring? She had almost no time to herself now that she was nearly an adult and preparing to take Aspio's throne. And then came the Dragon, who demanded the kingdom's princess and riches in exchange for their safety. Rita, eager for a little change of pace, quite willingly gave herself up. Estelle/Rita, fairytale AU.


Here's another prompt for Tales of Femslash Week 2017! The prompt was Storybook, so I wrote a fairytale AU.

* * *

 ** _Knight in Shining Armor_**

Rita thought that being held captive by a dragon would a little more...exciting. It would give her more alone time to read and work on her experiments. No more servants or advisors or other nobles telling her that it was time to get dressed, time to attend court, time to sit in on another meeting... Blah, blah, blah.

Who knew being princess could be so _tiring_? She had almost no time to herself now that she was nearly an adult and preparing to take Aspio's throne.

And then came the Dragon, who demanded the kingdom's princess and riches in exchange for their safety.

Rita, eager for a little change of pace, quite willingly gave herself up.

Now she was being held hostage in a dingy old fortress on the outskirts of her father's territory. Her room was nicely furnished with the necessities: a bed, desk, torches and the like. But there were no books or blastia for her to mess with, and the Dragon refused to bring her any.

Instead the Dragon gave her a notebook filled with blank paper halfway through her second week – something to shut her up, she supposed. She tried her hand at journaling and hated it.

 _Hey Journal,_ she wrote the first day. _This feels really stupid. Never mind._

Her only option was to sit at the picture window and watch the world go by.

Which _might_ have been fine...if there was anything to look at. This corner of the territory hadn't been used for ages; the Dragon told her that a war was waged here centuries ago, but the surrounding towns and villages had picked up and left since. No one settled here.

Except the Dragon, of course.

Rita sighed, her chin resting on her open palm. What a bore. The scenery outside her window was the same as always: those stupid fields of grass, a few stupid trees and bushes, a rider off in the distance-

She nearly fell out of her chair. A _rider,_ coming all the way out _here_? Rita leaned as far out of the window as she dared.

She could see a brown-and-white spotted horse approaching the fortress's outer walls. The person astride the beast was wearing armor, with the helmet pulled down so she couldn't see their face.

They rode inside – the front gates had fallen to ruin a long time ago, and the courtyard beyond was choked with weeds and crawling ivy. Rita watched as the rider brought their horse to a stop and slid from its back.

Rita ran to the bedroom door and started pounding on it. "Hey, Dragon! Open up or I'm gonna burn this place down!"

"I already know about your knight outside," a voice said, smooth and slithery all at once. "There's no need to shout. You don't have your blastia. You can't use magic."

Rita huffed. It was true – the first thing the Dragon did was take away her blastia and scroll. Oh, what she wouldn't give to shoot a bolt of electricity right in his face...

Her door swung open. The corridor beyond was empty, but she knew the Dragon was somewhere nearby.

"Why don't you come watch the fun?" he asked.

Rita pretended she didn't hear him and went stomping down the hall.

At the end was the fortress's foyer: a massive, two story room, where Rita could stand at the banister and look down at the first floor below. Like the rest of the building, it had mostly been left to rot, and chunks of the ceiling had fallen in and scattered below.

The Dragon was in the center of the foyer, resplendent in the rays of sunlight that filtered through the broken roof. But it was the knight that caught Rita's eye: they were short, but walked with purpose and grace. They carried a sword in one hand and a hefty shield in the other.

"Reveal yourself," the Dragon said.

The knight slowly lifted the helmet from their head. Rita held her breath.

Short, pink hair. The knight shook it out and set her headgear aside. Her eyes were green and angry when she opened them.

"So _you're_ this Silver Dragon everyone was talking about," the knight said, lifting her sword. "Alexei, why would you do this? Aspio is such a peaceful kingdom. They mean us no harm."

So the Dragon had a real name. That was news to Rita, who never bothered to ask – she never really cared.

"It would be in the Empire's best interest to absorb it. They have some of the best and brightest mages and blastia researchers in the country. What if they were to turn against us?"

"Were you even listening to what she said?"

Rita didn't realize she'd spoken out loud until the words were echoing through the foyer. Alexei and the knight looked up at her. The knight smiled.

"This doesn't concern you, princess," Alexei said with a wave of his hand. "I'll send you back to your room if you don't behave."

"You're not sending me anywhere. I've had enough of listening to you," Rita said with a scowl. His voice was starting to annoy her. Now if only she knew where he'd hidden her blastia and scroll...

"I've come here to place you under arrest," the knight said to Alexei. "You're wanted by both the Empire and the kingdom of Aspio. You can come with me peacefully, or-"

Alexei drew his sword. The knight threw up her shield just in time to block his strike. Alexei was lightning-fast, and the bisected cape he wore fluttered behind him like a pair of wings. It must've been how he earned his nickname, Rita thought.

The knight gave a mighty heave and pushed Alexei away. He staggered backwards a few steps, his eyes wide, betraying his surprise. The knight's expression was fierce.

Rita's, on the other hand, was smug. She _liked_ this knight in her shining white and gold armor.

Alexei wasn't distracted for long. He struck again, harder this time, but the knight hardly budged. She swung back at him and they locked swords.

Rita's fists were clenched on the banister. She saw how Alexei fought when he came for her in Aspio; he took on each of her bodyguards and succeeded. He was fast and strong, but he had to have some kind of weakness... Something to catch him off guard and give the knight a chance to really pummel him...

That was it! She needed her blastia and scroll. Alexei took them from the start of her kidnapping, but they'd been together for the entire ride out to the fortress – they had to be here in the building somewhere.

Rita ran back down the hall, past her bedroom and deeper into the fortress. Where did Alexei usually sleep? She knew it wasn't far from her room, because most of the other parts of the fortress were either too decrepit or too dangerous to stay in. Her little corner was the safest, based on what she'd seen when he first brought her in.

She checked each of the other rooms she passed. Most of them were empty, though she did find the kitchen – it looked like Alexei had been partway through preparing her lunch. Vegetable slices were strewn across one countertop and a massive pot was stewing over a fire. She ignored it and kept going. She couldn't afford to waste time.

One of the last doors she found was locked. This _had_ to be it. Rita kicked it a few times, but it was solid, heavy. Her own bedroom door was the same way. It looked like these were the only things in the entire fortress that Alexei had bothered to restore.

Great! Her blastia was probably in there. She growled and ran a hand through her ruffled hair-

Oh. Wait. Her fingers touched something slender and metallic. She pulled out one of the bobby pins that had gotten lost in the tangles. She never actually brushed or styled her hair herself; that was usually left to the one of the handmaids who came to help her dress every morning. It hadn't been touched since the day Alexei broke in and spirited her away.

Rita smiled at that stupid little pin as she shoved it in the lock. She'd have to thank the handmaid when she got home.

 _Too bad I didn't find this sooner. I could've been out of here weeks ago!_ Rita thought, angry with herself. Whatever. It didn't matter now. No need to make her feel any stupider than she already did.

It took a few good minutes of effort, but Rita managed to pick the lock and pushed the door open.

Alexei's room was very similar to hers in terms of furnishings: spartan, boring. He didn't seem to have books either, but there was a trunk in the middle of the room. Rita beelined for it and started digging through.

Clothing, rations, a few notebooks with handwriting she could hardly read... Ah-ha! Her scroll and blastia were at the bottom. She'd never been happier to see them in her entire life.

The blastia was affixed to a necklace; she wound it around her neck as she raced back to the foyer. She could hear Alexei and the knight still fighting. Rita positioned herself back at the banister and started unrolling the scroll.

Things weren't looking as promising as they had before. Both the knight and Alexei were looking more tired, worn down. The knight's hair was sticking to the sides of her face. Alexei was similarly disheveled, but his swings were still strong. The knight was doing everything in her power to fight him back – and Rita could see with a tiny thrill that Alexei's left arm was bleeding from a massive cut.

"Hey!" she shouted, scroll unfurled in her hands. "Up here, Dragon!"

He quirked his head, but the majority of his attention was focused on the knight. "Princess, if you-"

A bolt of lightning crackled down from the glyph above Rita. It smashed into Alexei's chest and threw him to the ground. He drew in a startled breath.

The knight whipped around to face the princess. Her smile was wide.

"I've been waiting _so_ long to do that to him," Rita said. She reassumed her defensive stance. "Come on, let's wrap this up. I'm getting bored."

The knight nodded and charged forward. Alexei tried to stop her, but the lightning strike had left him weak; he barely fended her off. The knight stepped back, her strength renewed, and attacked him again. She stabbed at his side, cutting a red path along his flank.

Rita summoned a plume of fire beside Alexei. See how the Dragon liked _that_.

He fell to his knees. Tried to push himself back up with his sword and failed. He looked up at the knight, a grimace on his face.

The knight's expression was grim. "I'm bringing you back to the Empire. I'm sure Ioder would like to speak with you about what happened in Aspio."

"He'll see things my way."

"I doubt that," the knight said, barely loud enough for Rita to hear. She'd come down the stairs and was standing just behind them.

The knight secured Alexei with some of the things she'd brought with her – strong rope and shackles to keep him from escaping. When she was finished, she turned to face Rita.

"I'm sorry it took me so long to get here," she said. "We noticed Alexei was missing, but we couldn't figure out where he'd gone until someone broke into his chambers and found the notes."

"It's fine. I was holding my own pretty well," Rita said, hands on her hips.

A smile pulled at the knight's lips. "Oh? You do seem adept at blastia. You didn't use it on him before?"

Rita thought of the stupid pin. Of forgetting about it for _weeks_ because she never brushed her hair.

"I was just waiting for the right time to strike," she said. "I mean, it was more satisfying to see him being ganged up on."

"Mhm."

Rita folded her arms over her chest. "So. What's your name?"

"My name is Estellise. I'm a knight from the Empire – you probably guessed that already. It's a pleasure to meet you, Princess Rita," she said, bowing low.

Rita scoffed. "Ugh, please don't call me that. Just Rita is fine. No need to bow either."

"Rita."

Estellise's smile was brilliant. Her cheeks was still flushed from the fight, and she pushed sticky strands of pink hair from her face. She seemed so confident, self-assured... Rita couldn't help but admire her. Not that Rita _needed_ saving, but it was nice of her to lend a hand.

"The Empire's borders are close to the fortress. I was hoping to bring Alexei back to stand trial, but if you'd prefer, I can bring you back to your castle, Your Hi- I mean, Rita."

Rita frowned. She didn't want to go home just yet. The whole reason she'd allowed herself to be kidnapped was because she wanted to do something different, wasn't it? Going back to the castle meant going back to her old routine... Which would probably be so much worse now with her guards and her parents on high alert.

"I want to go back with you," she said, much to Estellise's surprise.

"Are you sure? Don't you want to see your family? I'm sure they're worried sick."

"Eh. I can tell them all about it in a letter home."

"Well..."

"Hey, I'm the princess here, right?" Rita said with a smirk. "I'm commanding my knight in shining armor to show me the Empire. To strengthen our alliance, and all that boring stuff."

Estellise shrugged her shoulders. "If you insist, Your Highness."

Rita started to correct her – and stopped herself. Whatever.

She followed her knight back to her horse, and away from the old fortress.


End file.
